Anecdotal Evidence: Hillary Will Lose
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 at 10:54 AM
updated Thu, 12 Apr 2007 at 10:56 AM
As a political journalist, my second-favorite activity (after drawing sweeping conclusions from early primary polls) is drawing sweeping conclusions from anecdotes. So, here's one such conclusion: Hillary Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee — at least if younger voters have anything to say about it.
I am in Washington, D.C., today, talking to a class of young journalists (college age and above) about my recent book and the upcoming presidential election.
We did a quick straw poll — these kids were all Democrats — and out of 15 kids, there was not a single vote for Hillary...
Barack Obama did quite well. Bill Richardson made a surprising showing. John Edwards brought up the rear.
Hillary — not one supporter, or even anyone who would defend her.
"She's not nice," one girl explained. Which just about sums it up. Others simply didn't like her, found her phony, found her cold, etc. No one thought she was an appealing character on TV or in her speeches or even in smaller settings (where some of them had had the chance to see her).
Now, we already know Hillary's not big with the youth ("the youth"?--ed Go back to Kaus's blog) and Obama is. But I was still shocked by the lopsidedness.
Rudy did pretty well when the students were forced to imagine voting in the Republican primary. McCain got a few hands. Romney got a lot of votes from those who thought he'd be the easiest candidate to beat in the general election.
So, there you have it. Proof positive.
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